"I'm being forced out as of the 31st," said Christopher White, who has owned the diner with his wife, Amanda, for 10 years. "The bank doesn't want us here."

A representative of Millbury National Bank, which owns the land on which the diner sits, disagreed that it is pushing out the diner, however.

"Up until the last 12 hours, we thought we had worked something out," said the bank's lawyer, Howard B. D'Amico of Worcester, on Wednesday.

Central Diner has been at the corner of Elm and Main streets in the heart of Millbury since 1910, housed in a smaller Worcester Lunch Car before the current 1930s structure. It's the kind of place political candidates made sure to stop by and where the Whites serve up such dishes as the Town Hall Special, featuring fried baloney, eggs and baked beans, and the Blackstone Garbage Barge, with eggs, onions, home fries, melted cheese — basically everything.

Mr. and Mrs. White have paid the bank $350 a month rent for the past 10 years. According to their lawyer, Frank Lombardi of Charlton, the bank sent them a letter last spring notifying them the rent would be raised significantly. Lawyers for the bank and the tenants began negotiating in September.

Mr. D'Amico said the bank recently sent the Whites a six-month lease at $500 a month, less than the original rent increase and at a rate the Whites had initially proposed. He had not heard back from the Whites or their lawyer.

"We're prepared to let the diner continue on a land lease," Mr. D'Amico said. "The bank has no ulterior plans for the space."

He pointed to an email sent by Mr. Lombardi on Nov. 15 that proposed three options to the bank: a one-year renewable lease at $500 a month; a sale of the diner to the bank; or bank-funded relocation of the diner to a new site with remodeling to bring it up to building code requirements that a change in location would trigger.

"I'm not sure if you don't just have a business that's having a hard time and wants the bank to pay for it," Mr. D'Amico said.

Mr. Lombardi confirmed the content of the email.

He said the Whites wouldn't accept the proposed lease because it was only for six months and wasn't renewable.

"It wasn't clear what was going to happen at the end of that lease," Mr. Lombardi said. "Why would they only do a six-month lease? It doesn't make sense."

Mr. White said the bank has wanted the diner off the prime corner for some time, even before he took over from the previous owner.

"Their argument is it's in disrepair," Mr. White said. "But I'm not going to put a lot of money into something if they're just going to bulldoze it."

Mr. D'Amico disputed that assertion, saying the bank had backed off of requests that the Whites improve the appearance of the building. Bank employees had also volunteered to pay for and help put on a coat of paint, but after a meeting at the diner, they felt rebuffed.

"If that place goes, there goes a lot of that (town) character," Mr. Winberg said.

He said other customers were saddened by the news of the diner's impending closure and he chose to speak to the media on behalf of the diner.

"This diner's a little different. You get family members there. Chris is like a go-to person," Mr. Winberg said.

"It's sad that something like this will go away," said Mr. Lombardi. "Whether the landlord wants it off its land is a bigger question."

Contact Susan Spencer at susan.spencer@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanSpencerTG